Grant Writing for Educators. Beverly Brown
being funded and be ready to adapt your project goals and objectives, if necessary, so they conform to funding priorities.
IDENTIFY NEEDS
In order to determine your grant funding needs, you must first identify your own needs, the needs of your colleagues, and finally, your district’s needs. You can do this quickly by sending out an e-mail asking for a list of needed supplies, equipment, materials, and programs. A form will not be necessary; using e-mail will reduce your response and information review time. Once you have a stack of replies, sort them based on common response areas (categories): mathematics, reading, social studies, arts, consumer science, technology, physical fitness, and so forth. The largest department or academic area will not necessarily always have the largest stack of grant funding needs. Often the largest academic area is quite proficient at getting competitive grants and may even have a larger earmarking of Title 1 (entitlement) funds. Often the smallest department will have the greatest grant funding needs because they are overlooked as “essential” by administration; they have no cadre of educators looking for funding opportunities and writing grant proposals. Sometimes, numbers can outweigh need. Handle inequities by addressing each of the academic departments over a given period of time. For example: English Language Arts (ELA) may have the greatest need due to the No Child Left Behind mandates. However, only write a grant project for ELA once or twice per school year. ELA will have to cycle in and out of your priorities so that you can address other department’s needs—treating each area equally. Technology needs will always have the largest cost factor because technology usually requires new physical infrastructure work, tons of new equipment, more professional development training, and is often outdated soon after installation.
SEARCH FOR COMPATIBLE FUNDING PARTNERS
A fundamental rule of the grant game is to approach only those funders interested in awarding grants in the same area as your need. Start your search for a compatible funding partner by first finding funders that make grants in the area of your project. Here is a list of the project areas that are of interest to grant funders:
• Building or renovation funds (for nothing major)
• Conferences and seminars (for educational purposes, such as learning new mathematics pedagogy or reviewing a new character education curriculum)
• Consultation services (for experts providing staff development workshops, including those on grant writing)
• Curriculum development (for all framework areas)
• Challenge or matching funds (for leveraging monies to win additional grant awards)
• Equipment (for technology and other tools)
• Program development (for creating new or expanded programs)
• Program evaluation (for tracking short- and long-term program impact)
• Publications (for distributing information to constituents such as the school newspaper, bulletins for parents, and program printing for school events)
Of course, you will need to search further after finding funders that share your general area of interest. Most funders also are interested in specific subject areas, such as technology, after-school programs, extended-school-year programs, and parenting training.
IDENTIFY CORPORATIONS THAT WANT TO HELP
Corporate funding is the easiest to obtain. How do you identify corporations that have financial assets to give your school cash or donated equipment or supplies? Here are some great sources for information on corporations and businesses in your local area:
• Local chamber of commerce membership lists contain contact information and classify businesses by category. Purchase a directory and use the information to develop mailing labels for selected businesses that have the potential to donate needed items or to write a check for your project needs.
• Regional economic development authority reports document top businesses and industries in your community and usually include key contact names, addresses, most recent profit or annual payroll, and number of employees. Such lists should be carefully examined, and might translate into corporate funding potential for the grant searching detective. You can contact your local or regional economic development agency to request statistical reports.
• Local newspapers are full of information on local and regional corporations. Most newspapers have a business section where they list corporations in the state that are publicly traded. They might refer to these as the “Minnesota 100” or the “California 100” or the “Arkansas 10.” This type of list will give you the names of major corporations in your state.
• State commerce and economic development Web sites are jackpots for finding new and existing corporations in your state.
Use the Internet in Your Research
Once you know the names of major corporations doing business in your locale or state, you can use the Internet to research their products, services, and their community involvement statement. Any corporation with a Web site link for “Community Involvement” or “Social Responsibility” is one that plans to give back monies to the areas where they do business and where their employees live.
You can retrieve more detailed information on corporations in your area or state by searching one of the several online subscription services—for example, Hoovers Online (www.hooversonline.com/free/). Also, remember to check with your public library for print directories, such as the Thomas Register™ or Harris InfoSource®.
SEEK OUT FOUNDATIONS
By nature, foundations are established to carry out the charitable missions of their donors. Many foundations are especially receptive to supporting all levels of education, from early childhood education through graduate study.
The Foundation Center
According to Foundation Giving Trends, published by the Foundation Center in 2003, education ranked first by share of foundation grant dollars. Foundations award billions of dollars annually for education programs—this includes K–12 schools! The Foundation Center is the premier source of nonprofit funding information. It collects data from corporate and foundation funders around the world and publishes profiles on them in books (The Foundation Directory and other specialized directories) and on the Internet (www.fdncenter.org). Some states have their own foundation directory, so check with your local public library to see if your state has one. Most states have at least one Foundation Center Cooperating Collection, which will be at a state university, community foundation, nonprofit resource center, or large public library. At these sites, you can use the Foundation Center publications, online subscription-based directory, and FCSearch CD-ROMs at no charge. Together, these information access tools contain more than 600,000 entries related to finding foundation grants.
STATE AND FEDERAL FUNDING AGENCIES FOR SCHOOLS
Grant announcements from federal agencies are published daily in the Federal Register. This document can be viewed at local libraries designated as Federal Depositories or can be found online at the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) Access Website (http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html). The Federal Register lists all government business transactions, including grant funding or grant availability announcements.
FEDERAL FUNDING PROGRAMS
Can your school apply directly for federal grant monies? Yes, provided you use your school district as the grant applicant. Is this money different than the pass-through monies available through your state education agency? Yes, federal grant awards are viewed as a direct agreement between your school district and the federal agency doling out the grant money—usually the U.S. Department of Education. Recipients of “pass-through” grants are the state departments of education, even though the grant monies are subsequently distributed to local school districts in the form of formula allocations and competitive grant awards.